That creature you saw just now, they told her. It wasn’t the Keeper. Not exactly. The Keeper is a story. That was our big, strong friend. She’s real.

How did one talk to silbercows? She tried it again. I don’t understand, she told them.

That ship on the beach is the Seashell, they told her. With two bodies trapped inside. Mikka and Brek.

Lovisa was cast into a new kind of shock. What? she cried out. You brought us the Seashell? How did you do that? Why would you do that?

It’s the evidence you need, they told her. There’s a lock on their door.

Evidence?

Evidence that they were murdered, they told her. Our friend is big. She’s big enough to move ships. We want to help you humans, so you’ll help us. We know you need true things for your courts.

You know that? Lovisa said. How do you know that?

Why wouldn’t we know that? they said. We talk to humans. We’re part of your world. Some humans are our friends. Do you know the small human who lost the ring?

The queen? said Lovisa, incredulous.

They asked her, Can you come down to the water?

—

Lovisa walked north, to a place where steps in the cliff led down to a little beach. It was a different beach from the one where the ship was sitting. She didn’t want to go anywhere near that beach, for human voices had begun to sound down there, calls of amazement, shouts. “Did you see that? Did you hear it?” She didn’t want to be part of their speculation, their wonder. Their horror, when they discovered the bodies inside. Lovisa didn’t want to see any more bodies.

When she got down to the water, the silbercows were waiting for her, floating some distance from the shore. She didn’t know how to get close to them. She had no boat. When one of them swam up close to the beach, so close that Lovisa was frightened for its safety, she walked right into the water.